


Little Hands

by InkedMyths



Category: LinkedUniverse - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Fluff, Gen, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Warriors is big bro and I will stand by this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:01:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24454855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkedMyths/pseuds/InkedMyths
Summary: A strange spell turns several of our heroes into much younger versions of themselves. The others are turned into babysitters.
Comments: 36
Kudos: 498





	Little Hands

**Author's Note:**

> This is from a series of live-writes I did in flipping... October.

As the cloud of mist began to dissipate from the clearing, Warrior took a hesitant, but much needed breath. He'd instinctively held it as soon as... whatever that was went off. So far he didn't think it was poisonous, but that didn't really mean anything in the long run. Slowly breathing through his scarf, he squinted through the fading fog. "Is everyone alright?"

"I am," came a muffled voice to his right. Looking over, he saw Four standing nearby. He'd dropped his headband over his mouth, employing much the same technique as Warrior himself was.

That was good. However, no one else was answering, and he began to fear for the worst. It looked like both he and Four had immediately covered their mouths. Had the others not and been punished for it? There was still too much fog to see. He glanced over to Four, understanding passing between them. The smaller Hero nodded, and they turned back to back to examine and search the clearing.

For a moment, there seemed to be no sign of the others. Then, as Warrior walked forward, he felt a tug on his pant leg. Nearly jumping out of his skin, he looked down. Blinked. Blinked again.

"Oh my Hylia." He breathed.

"What is it?" Four asked. His hearing was surprisingly good, apparently. Not as good as Twilight's, but still impeccable. Speaking of Twilight... Warrior looked back at Four, then down at the little figure who had grabbed a hold of his leg. Four followed his eyes, his own widening as he realized the same thing he had. "Oh."

He was positive it was Twilight. Very few people had that shade of icey blue, and no one else had those facial markings. It was rather strange, however, to see them on such a young face. A face that looked to be about...6, maybe? He was so little! Was that what that cloud did? Must be.

Twilight's bright eyes peered up at him, then to Four. He didn't say anything, just stared. Four swallowed. "Are you uh... alright?"

Twilight blinked. Then, nodded slowly. "Mhm." Holy Hylia, his voice was so much higher. It was honestly kind of cute, and if it weren't for the shock, Warrior would have laughed.

"Well, alright. Do you know where the others are?" Twilight shook his head at Four's question. Warrior frowned down at him. Was he really okay? Twilight was never exactly talkative, but now he was unusually quiet. Though that may just be embarrassment over his voice.

Warrior reached down and tapped at his hands. "Here, can you let go? I'm going to go find the others." He didn't mean to go into his voice for younger children. It just happened. Luckily, Twilight didn't seem to mind. He released him from his grip, and scooted closer to Four. "Just stay there for a second while I look."

Luckily, it didn't take long to find the others. Unluckily, they had all suffered the same fate. The only ones who weren't there were Wind and Time, who'd gone ahead scouting. That left him with de-aged versions of Wild, Hyrule, Legend and Sky. In a short while, he managed to get them all gathered together in a small clearing in the trees.

During that time, Warrior and Four had come to a mildly terrifying conclusion: this wasn't just a physical transformation. It appeared they'd all been literally turned back into children. Which resulted in some weird things. 

Certain traits gained in their older years carried over, some didn't. Twilight still had his markings, but Wild no longer had his scars. Legend's head was a surprisingly pink poof, and Sky was contentedly wrapped in his (now oversized) sailcloth. Which was also weird. For the most part their clothes had shrunk with them, but some hadn't. Warrior decided he wasn't going to think about it too hard as his mind was more focused on the present issues.

Sky was, unsurprisingly, a very sleepy kid. He was practically dozing off against a tree. Twilight must have just been quiet naturally, and was sitting off to the side. That was all well and dandy. They were the easy ones.

Hyrule was a sweetheart, but was unfortunately just as prone to wandering as he always had been, if not more so. They kept having to herd him back to the others. They'd managed to solve it mostly with Legend who, while a loud kid, seemed to be kind of clingy.

Then there was Wild. For whatever reason, Wild had insisted, absolutely insisted, on being picked up. In fact, he'd been on the verge of tears. Warrior wasn't exactly well versed in kids, but since Four was a little small for the job, he obliged. As soon as he was up, Wild immediately lit up and began babbling semi-coherently (he had to be something like 3).

Despite the obvious stress of the situation, Warrior wished he'd had the hands to have the Sheikah Slate out when Time and Wind walked into the clearing. The looks on their faces were priceless. Especially when, to everyone's surprise, Twilight ran up to him and wrapped his arms around Time's legs. As if on autopilot, the man dazedly reached down and picked up the now young boy. He looked to Warrior searchingly, and he could only shrug in response.

"What happened?" Wind asked, wide eyed as he stared at the tiny heroes.

"We're not sure entirely, but we definitely came in contact with some sort of spell," Four answered.

"Cloud," Twilight said, and everyone looked at him. "There was a big," he waved his hands, "purply cloud. Then we was made small." He went quiet again.

Warrior nodded, trying to ignore the urge to pull out the Sheikah Slate and film this. "That's about right. No idea where it came from."

After a moment, Time looked away from Twilight to Warrior. "Why weren't you and Four, uh... changed?"

They exchanged a look. "Well," Four said, "I'm not entirely sure, but I think it may be because we covered our mouths?" He shrugged. "Otherwise, no idea."

Time sighed. "And you didn't see a source for it?"

"Nope."

"What kind of spell would just suddenly turn you into a kid?" Wind asked.

Time's face seemed to darken momentarily, but he shook his head. "Who knows." He frowned. "I know it's still daylight, but we should probably make camp while we figure out what to do."

"Camp?" Wild perked up. "Campy time?"

Warrior looked at him, then glanced at the others. "Uh, yeah. We're going to make camp."

"Campy time!" Wild clapped his hands together. "It's campy time!"

Warrior decided that while this was definitely probably not the best of situations, the sheer cuteness of the little heroes made up for it by a long shot.

* * *

After getting camp set up, they all split off into different groups. Time was making dinner, Twilight never leaving his side (which was adorable, by the way). Wind and Four were hanging out and playing with Hyrule and Legend, tag teaming so they didn't lose track of the two. That left Warrior with Sky and Wild.

Sky always had a tendency to be a little sleepy, and it was only accentuated by his younger age. He wasn't asleep currently, content to rest his head on Warrior's left side. His right side was taken up by Wild, who unlike Sky was very awake.

"Watcha’ got there buddy?" Warrior said, looking down at Wild.

"Leaf." He waved it in the air. "Big leaf."

"What are you going to do with it."

"Makit a face. Like Korok." He held it over his face to emphasize the statement.

"Well then," Warrior said, reaching down. "You have to make eye holes in it. Right here and," he poked, "here."

"Yeah!" Wild poked his small fingers through the leaf for eyes, then tore a smiley face. "Like dis. Hey!" His bright blue eyes looked up at Warrior. "Let's play Korok!"

"Play Korok, huh?" Warrior smiled. "How do you do that?"

"I hide, you find me!" Wild clapped his hands. 

Ah, so hide-and seek. "Alright, why not?"

"You gotta count! Close!" He placed his hands over Warrior's eyes. "Close n' count!"

Warrior chuckled. "Alright, alright. My eyes are shut tight as a treasure chest. Okay, one..." He heard Wild giggle, then the sound of small footsteps running off. "Two, three..." rustling nearby.

After counting to ten, he looked around. From what he guessed, Wild had headed off into the bushes off to the side. He looked down at Sky, who had his eyes shut sleepily. "Hey buddy. Wake up." He was met with a little yawn and a bleary gaze. "Wanna help me find Wild?"

"Where's Wild?" He asked, perking up slightly.

"He's hiding, and we have to find him."

Sky was now more or less awake. Warrior picked him up as he stood. "Alright. Where do you think he went?" He made an overdramatic searching gesture, earning him a little smile.

Sky pointed at a pile of blankets nearby, and he went over to it. "Helloooo? Is there a Wild Korok under here?" As he picked up the blankets to search, he dumped one on Sky's head. He got laughter, and the item was pulled off, leaving the boy's head a staticky floof.

"Hmmm... Doesn't look like he's here. Where else should we look?" Sky pointed at the pile of gear. Warrior grinned, and marched over. "Do you think he's hidden in our bags?" He gasped. "What if he fell into the bottomless pit of Legend's bag?"

"Noo!" Sky said, batting his face.

"We'd better check." Warrior knelt down, opening the bag with one hand as he shifted Sky into his other. He poked his face into the opening. "Hello? Wild, are you in here?" He paused, then pulled his face out and looked at Sky. "I don't think he's in there."

"No." Sky agreed, shaking his head.

Warrior stood up. "Alright Sky. In order to find a Korok, you have to think like a Korok." He prodded the boy in the forehead, who giggled. "Now, if I were a tree boy, where would I hide?"

Sky thought, furrowing his brow in concentration. Then, he looked up. "Th' woods!"

"You think he's in the woods?" Warrior looked around, then pointed at the bush he'd noted earlier. "Perhaps there?"

"Yeah." Sky nodded vigorously.

"Alright! Only one way to find out." He made his way over to the spot in an over exaggerated tiptoe. As he walked over, he spotted a bit of blue fabric hiding the leaves, and grinned.

"Hmmmm..." He said, examining the bushes. "This does seem like a very Korok-y place to hide. What do you think, Sky?"

Sky looked over the bushes. "Very K'roky."

"Yes, very. Now, a Korok may hide... in the treetops!" He pointed up in a dramatic swoop. "Or, he may hide... behind the trunk!" He gestured. "Or, he maaaaay... hide in these bushes!" He pulled aside the leaves of the bush, revealing a large leaf being held up by small hands.

"Yaha-haHA! You found me!" Wild chirped from behind his makeshift mask.

"Indeed we have!" Warrior grinned. "Look at us, Sky. We're a Korok hunting team, huh?"

"Yeah!" Sky pumped a fist. "K'rok huntin' team!"

"And what do we do when we find a Korok?" Warrior asked, glancing at Wild mischievously.

Sky paused, looking confused. "Dunno. What?"

"We... catch them!" Warrior used his free arm to scoop up Wild, who shrieked with laughter. "We're taking you back to our camp, Mr. Korok! Our leader will decide what to do with you!"

"Nooo!" Wild laughed, kicking his feet as Warrior slung him over his shoulder. "Let me go! I'm jus' a little Korok!"

"That's for the boss to decide!" Warrior said, marching over to the campfire.

Time looked up with a smile as he saw Warrior making his way over with the two boys in his arms. "What do we have here?" he asked in amusement.

"Well sir, me and my partner here," he replied, nodding his head to Sky, "have captured a mischievous little Korok!" He turned so Wild could see Time, giggling. "What should we do with him?"

"Well," Time said. "How about we feed him some dinner? Twilight here has helped me make some delicious soup." Twilight nodded proudly at his side.

"Sounds good to me," Warrior replied, pulling Wild off his shoulder and sitting down.

"Dinner!" Wild cheered.

"Alright," Time said, beginning to dish out servings of the soup. "Twilight, will you go get the others?" The boy nodded and darted off.

Soon they were all gathered around the fire enjoying the meal. Warrior relaxed as he ate. Initial shock and panic aside, things were going good so far. No one had gotten overly upset, and he'd found himself enjoying looking after their shrunken Heroes. It felt nice to let go for a little while.

They'd have to figure out a solution sometime. After all, they needed to return to their actual size and ages. Not to mention it was dangerous having a bunch of children in the woods with who-knows-what monsters lurking. If they didn't find something soon, they may have to find a place to leave the tinies while they searched for a cure.

For now, though, the soup was good and the fire was warm. There was laughter in the clearing, both old and young. Bright eyes shone in the flickering light.

Things were good. They were good.

* * *

Bap. Bap.

Warrior groaned as he was awoken by an odd sensation. Something was tapping his face. Something that felt an awful lot like tiny little hands. He blinked his eyes open blearily, meeting a bright blue pair. Wild.

Resisting the urge to groan more, he yawned instead. "Whassup lil guy? It's really late, you know."

"Come! Come!" Wild whispered excitedly, batting his face again.

Warrior rubbed his eyes, sitting up. Glancing around, he saw that everyone else was asleep. From Time to Hyrule, peaceful breathing and snores mingled with the quiet rustling of leaves in the breeze. The only thing not caught in a sleepy haze was Wild, who was bouncing excitedly. The small boy tugged on his arm, and he chuckled. "Alright, alright, I'm coming."

Wrapping a blanket around his shoulders, he stood up and let Wild lead him forward. After a little ways of walking through the trees, it opened up to another clearing overlooking a cliff.

"Lookit! Star!" Wild pointed to the sky.

Warrior obliged, and he had to admit, it was breathtaking. The night was perfectly clear. The firmament above glittered in crisp clarity, shining like diamond dust in the satin black of night.

"Wow," he said, looking back down at Wild. "They're really pretty, huh?"

"Yeah!" Wild tugged at him to sit down. He sat, pulling the child into his lap and wrapping the blanket around the both of them.

"Do you know any constellations?" He asked. Wild shook his head no. Warrior looked back up at the sky. This wasn't his Hyrule, so he didn't recognize any of the stars. "Me neither. How about we make some up?"

Wild seemed to like the idea, clapping his hands together. So Warrior leaned back, eyes tracing imaginary lines from one shining speck to another. "Hey, you see those stars over there?" He gestured, amd Wild nodded. "Those are, uhhh... Legend's Hat. See, there's the point, and there's the brim!" Wild giggled. "Annnd... those ones over there are the, um, Bokoblin Brothers. There's one, there's two, with their big ears."

Wild tugged on his shoulder, and pointed at a set of stars. "Thas Naydah!"

Naydah? What was... oh, hang on. "Naydra, the dragon?" Wild nodded. "Oohh, I see. There's the head, and there's its long body?"

There they sat, making up constellations in a sky that belonged to someone else, laughing into the cold night air. They had the Pipes, the Sheikah Tower, the Wrecking Ball, the Evil Pig Man... the list went on and on, from simple to silly. On and on they went into the darkness, until eventually sleep overtook them.

* * *

Laughter.

That's what Warrior woke up to the second time. He didn't know when he'd fallen asleep, but he clearly had as the skies above were a honey gold fading into blue as dawn faded into day. Aside from the skies, there was a smiling face above him.

"There you two are." Four shook his head at them, grinning.

Warrior rubbed his face, careful not to disturb the still sleeping boy on his chest. "Mph, hey Four. Morning."

"As cute as you two are all snuggled up like that, you need to get up. Everyone freaked out when neither of you were in camp." Oh, shit.

Warrior gathered up the blanket and Wild, who stirred as he stood up. He murmured sleepily, burying his head in his chest. Despite the fact that they were both in incredible trouble, he couldn't help but smile.

Time looked like he was going to rip him a new one as he walked into the camp, though his face softened slightly as he watched Wild nuzzle further into the fabric of his shirt. Still, that gaze of disappointment sent shivers down his spine.

He cleared his throat before Time could begin his lecture. "Sorry about that. Little leaf here wanted to show me the stars, and we ended up falling asleep over there."

Time sighed, closing his eye tiredly. "Couldn't you have just stayed in the camp?"

Warrior shrugged sheepishly. "He wanted that spot."

"And you obliged?" Time pinched the bridge of his nose. "You know, for a captain of the guard, you sure are a pushover when it comes to kids."

Warrior was about to protest, but it was that moment that Wild decided to wake up. He yawned, blinking his eyes slowly and looking up at him. "Hey little leaf. You're awake!" Warrior smiled at him. "Do you want me to put you down?"

Wild stared, then slowly shook his head. "No down. Keep cuddle." He nuzzled back into Warrior's shirt, gripping it in his tiny fist.

"Alright then." Warrior smiled, then looked up to Time's deadpan stare. After a moment of staring, he sighed. "Okay, so maybe I have a weakness for kids."

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to split it up into multiple chapters but... it was already written and I'm lazy


End file.
